Vacation Catch-up

The WayneWho staff decided we would take a cue from the Kissimmee City Commission and take a week off because there was nothing really "critical" going on in the community, and it was great. Some great fishing around Horseshoe Bend on the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks is a great way to reset the normality meter and bring our local issues back into focus. Or so we thought.

On our return we discovered that in our time off, we had been innondated with e-mails on what we thought of the debates that had recently been held for the City of Kissimmee, and Osceola County District 3 races. It seems that our input was being sought on an issue that we are not very well versed on, candidates. As our long time readers know, we focus on government policy, process, and the elected officials who week in and week out provide endless amounts of entertainment as they attempt to make decisions on policies and processes they only understand when given the "back-up" that explains how they should vote. We do not normally address candidates unless their policy views or comprimised pasts deserve some type of discussion. We also believe that as an "un-news" source, it would be absurd to offer endorsements, even if we could offer more reasoned thoughts than our local media counterparts. But we thought we would try to get a copy of the debates of Access Osceola and give it a try.

We watched the debates and we only have a couple of thoughts. Our first thought is that we are all doomed. The level of knowledge of the majority of candidates, including incumbants, is almost non-existant. Not that the questions asked by our local media really tested that knowledge, but most of the candidates stumbled on tough questions like "Would you consider organizational changes in city government?" and on the county side "How will your Democratic values effect your judgement on the commission?" Glad our media friends put some thought into their questions. Maybe someone should ask a question like "Do you understand what purgury means Mr. Ferentinos?" or "Do you actually plan on passing an ordinance that states 'We have gotta do something' Mr. Miranda? While we understand it is difficult for someone who has not served in an elected seat to formulate policy, some of those running have been doing so for so long that they should be considered incumbants themselves.

To be fair we would have to say that there were a few moments that stood out to us as great moments, like John Bykowski's call for a citizens review panel for the city budget, Jeane Van Meter's call for log in sheets to track special interest groups and lobbiest who frequent commissioners offices at the county, and Tony Ferentinos' declaration that the county budget has no accountablility (which the rest of the candidates in one way or another agreed with), these moments were exceptions to the rule. These moments at least gave us hope that this year's elections would give us candidates that might start to understand the basics of their job titles. But then comments like "It takes three votes to get anything done" from Jeanne Van Meter reminds us what happens once a candidate gets elected.

We will save any knods and/or winner declerations to our other blogging coutner parts. We will stick with our own brand of un-news and poltical satire.

Candidate Signs and Vacant Buildings

Now that the local silly season is in full effect, candidates are pulling out all the stops to get their message (“Hey, here’s my name...vote for me!”) out to the local citizenry.

A loyal WayneWho reader sent us an essay on some of the sites which have been accumulating candidate signs, along with some photos. Since this is a mostly PG-rated blog, we can’t reprint the essay, but we think we can pass along the message.

While local businesses are certainly members of the community, and often have locations with high traffic counts, we wonder about the decision of some local candidates to post their campaign signs on vacant and undermaintained commercial properties in the area. Perhaps some of these thoughts appear in the mind of those involved in the transaction:

> From the candidate - “This property owner is my friend, and they want to show support for my campaign.” “This is a great location, and I need to have a sign here, even if the property looks awful.” “By the time they stop by to visit the property, the election will be over anyway.”

> From the property owner - “I need this candidate to be elected so that I can realize my goals for this property.” “The more candidate signs I have out front, the less attention Code Enforcement will pay to my property.” “What? There are candidate signs on my property?”

With all the rhetoric in the campaigns about revitalizing the community, perhaps candidates could take this first small step. Reconsider whether your campaign really needs the publicity of posting your name on an undermaintained vacant commercial property.

Political Circus

Most people love the circus. They love dancing bears and will at least say they like clowns even when they are terrified of them. Most people have the same reaction to politicians. They make us laugh and cry, and we are scared to death of what they will do to our wallets if they are left alone with us for even a few minutes. When it comes to local candidates and campaigns most of us love the political circus of the silly season.

The WayneWho staff has decided to start a "Political Circus" article that we will run a few times to help catch our readers up on the behind-the-scenes silliness. This will make it easier than dedicating entire articles to gaffs and missteps along the way.

To start off this edition of "Political Circus" we would like to point out a very interesting comment in El Nuevo Dia on Thursday. Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan attacks his opponents John Cortes and Jorge Miranda for making irresponsible campaign promises. He then goes on to state that "in 14 years of public services I have never lied to my community." In essence he is calling his opponents liars for what their campaigns are promising. Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire!

According to El Nuevo Dia and our remote blogging friend, the Farquharson Brief is not complete. The lawsuit over discarded petition cards continues on and is being fought by Mercedes León. Will the elections office end up in another constitutional battle? Has Beulah finally found her calling?

Another tidbit from our remote blogging friend is a re-printed e-mail from Judy Robertson in response to an article from the blogger Carl Cricket at http://ksib.net/ that our remote blogger friend re-sent to his e-mail list (with all the proper credits given this time). The original article was in reference to signs placed by Mrs. Robertson's campaign without the permission of property owners. "I personally asked Mr. Schoolfield about locations that he would allow me to put my signs. He told me 'anywhere there is a Schoolfield sign'. I then thanked him and said I realized that was a lot of locations and that if I put one in a place he objected, to please let me know and I would remove it. So far, he hasn’t called. Any person who has a sign on their property that is not wanted can remove it and you know it. Check out who is using the rights-of-way and who is not." was her response. In another line she points out that County Commissioner Bill Lane has become the Sign Czar of District 5 and has personally taken it upon himself to do the job of code enforcement. "I did receive a complaint from Mr. Bill Lane about the zealousness of my sign people because of my signs on Schoolfield’s property. I assured him of the permission I received, but I guess he can’t accept that I was given that permission so now he is crying to you guys." reported Mrs. Robertson. This is not the first report we have heard of Mr. Lane crying about campaigns that have offended him by running against him. It seems that Mr. Lane's campaign is not doing that well even with all of the special interest money, so he is resorted to bullying tricks from the political past.

Another great point from Mrs. Robertson's e-mail reprinted by our California-Kissimmee insider is about a stalled debate that was being put together by the Fred Hawkins campaign that excluded most of the candidates and was basically a meet and greet for Mr. Hawkins. It seems that even the other republicans in the race don't want to be associated with the Hawkins campaign. All we can say is bring out the clowns.

Do What I Say

Hypocrisy is part of politics. Politicians are well versed at preaching their beliefs on residents even though they themselves do not practice what they preach. Candidates themselves normally avoid this faux pas by making sure they do everything they are promising with the hope they can get voters to notice them and hopefully flip the lever in their favor. Some candidates are willing to say anything just to get elected, but who those candidates are is up to the voters to decide.

With gas prices at some of their all time highs and other forms of power on the rise, it was inevitable that the conversations on "Green" technologies would start to crop up. We believe that these conversations are long overdue which tends to make the WayneWho staff question the timing of the discussions. As we have been keeping up with some of the local publications where the candidates have been priming their platform, we have read a great deal about the promise of going "Green" from a couple of candidates. Byron Hennecy and Judy Roberston have both gone to great lengths to explain the benefits of going "Green" and how much better life would be if everyone drove a hybrid car.

Their answer it seems to our community's problems is that everyone should go out and go deeper into debt to buy a hybrid car. If the gas prices continue to rise by at least another dollar, then all of our residents might actually start to see some saving versus the expense of the actually hybrid vehicle itself. At the same time our county would have to raise taxes to offset the loss in gas tax revenue they are supposed to be using to fix our roads since people would be buying less gas. So any savings on gas would be made up for in taxes. Cause and effect. It is the one concept every politician should understand.

How much do these candidates believe in their own platforms? What kind of hybrid vehicles do they drive? How many carbon offsets have they purchased to show us the error of our ways? Well, Mr. Hennecy's campaign vehicle that he drives to work at the county everyday is a Chevy Suburban which on good day gets about 15 mpg. We have not been able to confirm Mrs. Robertson's vehicle, but we have received several e-mails that it is another SUV. There are no records of their campaigns buying carbon offsets or them buying them on their own. Practice what you preach.

We would like to point out that we are excited about the "Green" conversations now taking place. But these conversations are ones that must be taken seriously and not just cut-and-past off of some "Green" activists website and then used as a platform to win an election. The impact to our community of going "Green" has both positive and negative impacts that politicians must understand long before we try to force the citizens to pay for the changes. While going "Green" might make the government some "Green" we need to remember whose "Green" it is we are actually taking. (You try writing a line like that.)

Lessons Not Learned

In the midst of one of the worst housing and mortgage crisis we have seen in this country since the great depression, a group with real estate ties are finding ways to use other people's money to help their own industry. In an article presented by the Osceola News Gazette they explain of an "effort to revive St. Cloud's struggling real estate market. A stimulus plan is in the works to attract more residents and bring jobs back to the area." To further add insult to injury, the plan that was presented by Council member Micky Hopper and the city's Economic Development Director was actually called "The St. Cloud Real Estate Economic Stimulus Plan." For those of you in the real estate industry, let us take a minute to explain to you what just about every other American knows or has learned from watching the county convulse under the extreme greed of those involved in the housing and mortgage markets, real estate and economic development are two separate things.

The Gazette's article points out that 37 percent of the city's businesses are real estate related, and that those businesses provide an estimated 21 percent of the jobs in the city. This means that almost a quarter of the jobs in St. Cloud were based on selling a finite amount of property unless the city was going to continue to grow by adding more property to the inventory. While we are glad that government did not step in to regulate the growth of a particular industry, even though they did continue to annex property to keep this industry going, we do not believe that it is appropriate for government or the taxpayers to bail out the real estate industry. The local real estate industry has failed because of bad planning and the greed of the industry itself and what we are witnessing is a free market correction that is reining the segment back in. The housing markets have failed because everyone involved focused on the easy money of developing and not on the infrastructure and creating the real jobs needed to support the housing market. Hence the term bubble, as in housing bubble, that we hear on a daily basis.

Our real problem with Ms. Hoppers "Real Estate Economic Stimulus Plan" is her group's short and narrow sighted view of the economy. "We need to get people back working," Hopper said. "Once people get back to work, we can get back to our regular lifestyle." The key phrase in this statement is "get back to our regular lifestyle." While the rest of the citizens of St. Cloud struggle, we should pump money into a specific market so those involved can keep the lifestyle the have grown accustom to? This is the kind of statement that only makes sense to government officials and presidents of local chambers of commerce.

The plan itself is basically an advertising plan that has the additional "Tour Bus" option to shuttle interested buyers around the community to show available property. The "Tour Bus" option is a critical component of the plan because of how long it takes to show people where they are going to have to find work if they plan to be able to pay their mortgage on a St. Cloud purchase. With most decent paying jobs close to 40 minutes away by design, interested buyers will need to factor fuel costs into their equation. What we do find most humorous is that Steven's Plantation which was once billed as a brilliant economic development effort by St. Cloud government, and the local media, has failed to the point that now you have to bus people to it in hopes they might be interested. Again, economic development based on a housing model leads to failure. This is a lesson that should have been learned by now and it is wrong to invest more tax money into a failing plan once again.

While we do believe that Ms. Hopper's plan is a bad one and a waste of taxpayers money, we do applaud her efforts. Council Member Hopper is the first to put some type of plan on the table to even be discussed. We also applaud the fact that for her plan to work, those involved in the real estate industry must get involved by either providing time or money to the plan. In essence, Ms. Hopper has worked very hard to eliminate the free ride aspect of the plan. The WayneWho staff is impressed by this. Our arguments against Ms. Hopper's plan is that it focuses efforts in the wrong area. The plan also creates a bubble within a bubble by selling homes in a market where there are no jobs for people to pay for those homes. The whole plan relies on the rest of Osceola County to be smart enough to create the job base for those who live in St. Cloud, and as we have seen over the past 10 years, they don't know how.

Ms. Hopper, expand your plan. Do not give up on your efforts, but realize that to save the real estate market means that you must put your efforts into areas other than the real estate market. The real estate market feeds off of the success of other markets such as manufacturing and distribution, but these markets do not directly feed off of real estate. We wish you luck.

We would like to finish this article article by asking a couple of simple questions of our award winning local newspaper, the Osceola News Gazette. Did you get that journalism award out of a box of cereal? What is it about doing interviews that you do not understand? Would it have been prudent to ask an average St. Cloud resident what they thought of the plan instead of getting nothing but positive spin out of people who directly rely on the real estate markets? The talk at "The Other Place" the day this article hit was not the happy chatter of a bunch of cheerleaders who just got new uniforms, the basic comments that morning went something like "How 'blanking' stupid are these people?" and "Get rid of them all and put some people up there that will not give away the farm." Maybe it was just the four tables around us and everyone else in the City is happy, but why not at least try to do a little research before you go to print?

Honor Thy Cow

After last years close call with the City of Kissimmee almost losing its iconic cow head from the city logo, the WayneWho staff believes that we need to take some time on this national holiday to pay homage to those who grazed the way for us. The few head of cattle that are still considered residents of our community (that is not some veiled swipe at our local elections) deserve some honor and remembrance today, National Cow Appreciation Day.

July 11, 2008 is set aside as a day for all in our nation, but especially Osceola County, to remember the members of the bovine community who against all odds, and sometimes jeering moos, fought to help settle this land. Cows, you see, were the cattle-ist that set man in search of more fertile lands and the promise of a better tomorrow. Cows and man worked together to push back the mongrel chicken hoards that at one time controlled and ravaged our great country. Central Florida was home to unique bovine and poultry wars as the "Cow-hunters" did everything they could to protect the herd from the wings and sharpened beaks of the animal that was once know as the "Winged Brush Rat", the chicken. This is why the cow is remembered in our city's logo and why there is no image of a chicken in its place.

To help us honor this Cow Appreciation Day, chicken harvester, Chick-fil-A is providing free meals and/or entrées to those who visit their stores dressed as a cow hero of their choice. The WayneWho staff has spent a good deal of time this week interviewing many bovine impersonators and have found them to take their role very serious. Some may just try to stick black construction paper on their white t-shirts, but the true honorees of the day will go much farther. Today is a day you don't want to try to rent a last minute cow suit, that is for sure.

Chick-fil-A is providing more information at their home website http://www.chick-fil-a.com/ or at their day specific website http://cowappreciationday.com/. The WayneWho staff would like to remind you to be safe and we hope you enjoy celebrating on this Cow Appreciation Day.

Your payment is OK with us

KUA recently announced that their customers can now pay their monthly utility bills at local Amscot locations.

Experienced readers of this blog have already mentally leapt ahead, looking for an Amscot punchline. Stay with us.

Because today we write not to criticize KUA or Amscot, but to congratulate them.

KUA is in the power generation and delivery business, not the staffing a payment counter business. Amscot, on the other hand, is in the staffing a financial storefront 24 hours a day business. Thus, rather than guessing when customers might want to come in to pay their utility bill, and trying to have staff available to accommodate most of them, it makes sense for KUA to have Amscot locations accept those payments, as they are open already.

In a time when governments and businesses alike are trying to reduce costs and become more efficient, doesn't it make sense to actually offer longer in-person payment hours without having to increase staff?

We also noted that KUA is picking up the $1 fee that Amscot charges for this service. We hope that this is also an indication of things to come, where government and quasi-government agencies realize that the savings gained through more rapid payment (anyone noticed how long it takes a check to clear these days?) and lack of staff processing time needed overcome the merchant service charge on credit/debit payments, and that those agencies stop exploiting a loophole in their merchant service agreement that allows them to charge a "convenience fee" by using a 3rd party processor.

Public Input

An interesting thing happened at the Kissimmee City Commission Meeting last night. (It is almost like a punchline on its own.) In the middle of a serious debate on how our community was going to fund some of our most critical social services programs with a reduced amount of funds from last years perspective, all public comment was blocked by the commission. The public was kept from voicing opinions, concerns, or even support because Mayor Swan and the rest of the commission firmly believe that the money in city coffers is theirs to do with as they please. As citizens, we are not allowed to give our input on where "our" tax money is spent, at least not under the current administration.

The issue of whether or not to allow public input, it seems, depends on where items are placed on the agenda that commissioners use to approve staff recommendations. This item was listed under the section called "Discussion Items" (a deceptive title indeed) which this commission believes means that it may or may not accept public input when it falls on this part of their checklist. The rules are different from week to week, and it depends on if you are one the people who are commission friendly as to whether you are going to be allowed to speak or not. Last night, this critical item happened to fall out of the realm of public input.

If the public were allowed to express what they would like to see done with their money, or what goals they would like achieved with it, there might have been less fighting between the commissioners. It was a sad spectacle to watch. The public at least might have backed up Commissioner Irizzary's argument that the H.O.M.E project, which serves the most limited number of citizens of the city of any program that was reviewed, should not continue to receive money to pay for its administrative staff that was only supposed to be funded for one year. That was the agreement made during the budget workshops last year when the H.O.M.E project received funding it should not have. That deal went out the window at the meeting last night, and of course the public could not comment on it. The public might have also asked what the money would be used for, and for reports to be given on any success or failures in relationship to the funding. The public may have also asked for documentation on the services the commission was looking at funding to verify that, in these changing times, were still relevant. Of course, as the Mayor explained, that was the old way of doing business, and we are not doing it that way anymore.

An interesting side note to this is that the Fire Fee Rate was set last night under a discussion item. Presumably this is because of the new ordinance that was passed last night that expedites the fee creation process. Again last night the commission spoke of how the public would still have input on the issues of fees, but if they are going to be put under discussion items, then, as we pointed out, the public can and will be cut out of the discussion. If it can be done on how the commission spends our money, then it can be done on how they tax the community as well.

The "Social Service Funding" item ended with Commissioner Irizarry and Commissioner Gemskie back-talking each other like a couple of kids who just lost their recess privileges. Commissioner Gemskie who gave very little input on how public funds were going to be spent was quick to attack Commissioner Irizarry when he argued against funding for the H.O.M.E project of which Mr. Gemskie has represented in the past. At least this point in the meeting gave us an insight into the upcoming cage match that will be Pay-Per-Viewed on Access Osceola this summer, but as far as establishing faith in our leadership, nothing has changed.

Pots of Money

We have caught wind that WayneWho has become a syndicated un-news source spanning from coast to coast of our great country. We just have to say thank you to all of our readers and those remote bloggers who enjoy reformatting and rediting our articles for their own mass email markets. The WayneWho Staff would like to say hello to all those Simi Valley readers who are now reading our material under a snappy pen name of the person who puts the "tin-foil" in our beanie of collective knowledge. (You can edit that part out for your next e-mail.) Hello to our new readers on the West Coast.

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In an attempt to help spread misinformation and un-news we are going to discuss a couple of items on the City of Kissimmee Commission Meeting agenda for tonight. First we have the second and final reading of the ordinance to expidite the process of creating and raising fees by establishing a catch all ordinace that simplifies the drafting of such fees. (Call that misinformation all you want, but that is the whole point of this ordinance.) As our sydicated column was attacked last week for spreading "misinformation" about the removal of the public from the process of drafting the new fees the city is after, we just have to note one glaring problem with the City's argument. If there is really no difference in the processes, then why are we making this change? The way the process is now, there is a large amount of leg work and public record on the movement and discussions on new fee ordinances. Much like a bill in congress, a new fee ordinance has to pass many hurdles even before the public has a chance to weigh in on the subject. This public information can then be requested by concerened citizens who wish to speak out for or against the fee. The new process provides less documentation for citizens' review making the arguments for new fees a he-said, she-said battle. We know, we know, we are supposed to trust government because they have shown so much honesty and integrity in the past. There have been no such episodes of going behind the back of the public to cyphon off money from the local electric company, sticking the citizes with increased rates so government could once again skip out on its responsibility of reducing its size. Things like that don't happen, right?

Of course all of this discussion of simplified fee making has not slowed down the expenditures of the IT department. The consent agenda contains the approvals for a new HP BladeSystem and VMWare for a sum of more than $93,000.00 and a Cisco Switch/Router for more than $70,000. Anyone want to wager a Granola Bar on if any questions are asked of the IT department as to what this is for and why it is needed? And even if the questions are asked, will any real explanation be given to the Commission? Just approve that $163,000 dollars to upgrade the speed at which staff can play fantasy football and track their weight on "Biggest Loser", the public won't mind.

The end of the meeting promises to be quite exciting with discussions on both the Social Service funding that the commission failed to properly monitor and account for when they removed the United Way from the funding process, and the setting of the Fire Fee under the new expidited system. It is fun to tally the expenditures as we listen to the cries of limited funding. Too bad the public cannot find a way to expidite new revenue for themselves as easily as government does. Wal-mart and the local attractions have slowed their summer hiring, so that second job will be a little hard to get this year.

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City of Kissimmee Candidate Social

Today is the first candidate social put on by the Kissimmee Chamber of Commerce. Today's gathering will focus on the City of Kissimmee candidates who will be asked a series of media driven questions from our local celebrity media personalities on what they believe are important issues to the community. Our recommendation is to skip the event and catch this one on your favorite government access channel, Access Osceola. What you will save on the cost of admission and the roll of Tums you will need after eating another rubber chicken dinner will justify the expense of the converter box to get channel 199. That is of course if you have not already wisely cut your cable package. If you have cut your cable package, then we recommend you still save your money and don't waste time on this social event.

The real problem with this event is that the "questions" asked by the celebrity interviewers are typically open ended generic "questions" that have nothing to do with the struggles our citizens face every day. The "questions" rarely give insight into the true knowledge and depth of a candidate. The "questions" also drive an agenda that is many times at odds with what the community has in mind. Questions on economic development are almost always asked as if there was some magic pot of money in which to draw from. And when candidates give the same old tired answer of "I think we should revitalize downtown and it would be nice if their was some night life down there," the celebrity interviewers nod their collective heads without ever asking the follow up of "Why?", "How do you intend to pay for it?", or the question that should be asked, "What are you going to cut to pay for this?" Incumbent candidates will tout their experience and the people that they know as reasons for the citizens to re-elect them and again the celebrity interviewer will not make them expand on these answers. "Is a round-about fountain paid for with gas tax money a wise decision when the city commission keeps cutting funding for public transportation?", "Is it wise to make commissioner backed changes to the City Charter with limited public input, and then table changes made by the actual charter review committee?", and "Since we now have a strong Mayor form of government, do we still need to employ the city manager?" Local governments have not had a great track record over the past couple of years, but this will not factor into the questioning because it is not proper to discuss failure at a social event.

Our advice to the voters is to call the candidates and talk to them yourself. Ask them about the questions that are important to you. If they blow off your questions then, you know what they are going to do if they are elected. Social events, like these forums, are not designed for the public, but one on one you will get a better idea of what a candidate is all about.

Special Assessment

At tonight's City of Kissimmee Commission meeting there is an item on the agenda that we have heard very little about even though we believe that this ordinance establishes more bad policy. "Item 4A" is an ordinance creating a Special Assessment Chapter in the Code Book that would authorize Special Assessments to fund Capital Improvements or Essential Services by the vote on a simple resolution instead of creating a new special proposed ordinance for each assessment. As written in tonight's agenda, "this ordinance would be the enabling ordinance..." and "This process would streamline this (assessment creating) procedure."

The WayneWho staff is not sure what is more scary, the fact that government believes it should be easier for it to charge fees (taxes), or that there is going to be a big push in the near future on creating new fees (taxes) that makes this new ordinance needed. The idea of removing public debate from the creation on new fees is just bad democracy and should not be supported. The process for creating new fees and/or taxes should be difficult for government to do. This should not be a streamlined process that allows for government to change their prices at whim. The public has a say in what they pay, and in what that money gets spent on. We have noticed a scary trend with local governments working hard to remove the public from processes it believes it should not be questioned on, and this must stop. The public is not an obstacle.

We would hope that others will take time to read this ordinance and question their commissioners on what the heck they are thinking.